Tesh Dagne
School of Public Policy and Administration
Associate Professor
Ontario Research Chair in Governing Artificial Intelligence
Member and Supervisor in the Masters of Public Policy, Administration and Law Program; Member and Supervisor in the Graduate Program in Law, Osgoode Hall Law; Member and Supervisor in the Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies
Email: tdagne@yorku.ca
Media Requests Welcome
Accepting New Graduate Students
Dr. Teshager Dagne joins the School of Public Policy and Administration as an Ontario Research Chair in Governing Artificial Intelligence and associate professor, with tenure, in the Professorial stream. He has previously taught at Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law and the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, where he earned his Doctoral degree and was a Schulich Research Fellow.
He has extensively published in areas of knowledge governance in intellectual property law, emerging technologies regulation, and big data governance.
His research explores legal, ethical, and regulatory considerations in the challenges and opportunities that the deployment of Artificial Intelligence and related technologies bring in different spheres of activities.
Areas of thematic focus:
- Intersections between intellectual property law and innovation governance
- The relationship between privacy norms and intellectual property law about access and control of data
- Frameworks and models for allocating rights in data in AI pipeline
- Artificial Intelligence Applications in health, agriculture, and environmental resources
Graduate and Post-doc Supervision
Professor Dagne is currently looking for Grad and Post-doc students in relation to research programs funded by York University. He has research projects funded by Connected Minds. If your research relates to the following areas, broadly, please get in touch with him to discuss:
(1) Governance of AI-Assisted Health Devices and Digital Health Applications: Addressing Legal, Regulatory and Ethical Challenges and Opportunities. Under this stream, his research delves into the governance complexities surrounding AI-assisted health devices and digital health applications, exploring the shifting dynamics of medical and consumer health devices, and framing governance as a holistic societal framework. His research examines Data Governance and Governance of Innovation, probing diverse interests, equitable access to data, and the impact of AI on liability and innovation governance.
(2) Artificial Intelligence and Agriculture: Data Governance for Sustainability in Digital Agriculture: Under this strand, his research explores the potential of AI technologies in areas like smart irrigation, pest control, and disease detection for greener agriculture. He investigates the intricate interplay of stakeholders, ranging from farmers to agricultural technology providers, highlighting power dynamics and autonomy concerns arising from concentrated data ownership.
Books Authored
1. Gregory Hagen, Cameron Hutchison, Graham Reynolds, Teresa Scassa, Margaret Ann Wilkinson, Tesh W. Dagne, Canadian Intellectual Property Law: Cases and Materials, 3rd edition (2022) Emond Montgomery.
2. Tesh W. Dagne, Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge in the Global Economy: Translating Geographical Indications for Development (London: Routledge, 2014).
Book Chapters
1. “Subsistence of Copyright over CAD files in 3D Printing: The Canadian, the U.S. and European Outlook” in Enrico Bonadio & Nicola Lucchi, Non-Conventional Copyright (Cheltenham, Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2018).
2. Tesh Dagne and Chidi Oguamanam, “Geographical Indication (G.I.) Options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa” (with Dr. Chidi Oguamanam) in De Beer, J., Armstrong, C., Oguamanam, C. and Schonwetter, T. (Eds.) Innovation and Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa (Cape Town: U.C.T. Press, 2014)
Journal Articles
1. "How Artificial is Artificial Intelligence? Accounting for Data Workers in Collaborative Authorship of Data Work and AI Outputs" – in progress
2. “Vying for the New Harvest: A Data Governance Framework for Access to and Control over Agricultural Data” – in progress
3. “Where Copyright Meets Privacy in the Big Data Era: Access to and Control over User Data and the Role of Copyright” (2022) The Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law.
4. “Embracing the Data Revolution for Development: Rights-based Governance for Farm Data in the Context of African Indigenous Farmers” (2020) 5 The Journal of Law, Social Justice and Global Development 15-44.
5. “Governance of Health-related 3D Printing Applications in Canada and the United States: Between Regulated and Unregulated Innovation” (2020) 22 Columbia Science and Technology Law Review 281-328.
6. “Protection of Biodiversity and Associated Traditional Knowledge in Canada: Ensuring Community Control in Access and Benefit Sharing” (2017) 30:2 Journal of Environmental Law and Practice 97-122.
7. Tesh W. Dagne and Gosia Piasecka, “The Right to Repair Doctrine and the Use of 3D Printing Technology in Canadian Patent Law” (2016) 14:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Technology 263-287.
8. “Geographical Indications as Tools for Knowledge Governance in Select Eastern and Southern African Countries” (2016) 19 African Journal of Information & Communication 143-152.
9. “The Narrowing Transatlantic Divide: Geographical Indications in Canada’s Trade Agreements” (2016) 10 European Intellectual Property Review 598-609.
10. Tesh W. Dagne and Chelsea Dubeau, “3D Printing and the Law: Are CAD Files Copyright-protected?” (2015) 28:1 Intellectual Property Journal 101-135.
11. “Overview of Implications of 3D Printing upon Canadian Intellectual Property Law” (2015) 31 Canadian Intellectual Property Review 29-41.
12. “The Left Shark, Thrones, Sculptures and Unprintable Triangle: 3D Printing & Its Intersections with I.P.” (2015) 25:3 Albany Law Journal of Science & Technology 573-591.
13. “Beyond Economic Considerations: (Re) Conceptualizing Geographical Indications for Protecting Traditional Agricultural Products” (2015) 46:6 International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 682-706.
14. “Protecting Traditional Knowledge in International Intellectual Property: Imperatives for Protection and Choice of Modalities” (2014) 14:1 The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property 25-49.
15. “The Identity of Geographical Indications and their Relation to Traditional Knowledge in Intellectual Property Law” (2014) 54:2 IDEA: The Intellectual Property Law Review 255-284; The WIPO Journal (2015)
16. “Acting Locally to Participate Globally in A Rights-Based Approach to Development: Place-based Intellectual Property Strategies in Traditional and Local Agricultural Production” (2013) Drake Journal of Agricultural Law 565-595.
17. “The Search for Protection of Traditional Knowledge in the Knowledge Economy: Cross-Cutting Challenges in International Intellectual Property Law” (2012) 14:2 International Community Law Review 137-178.
18. “Harnessing the Development Potentials of Geographical Indications for Traditional Knowledge Based Agricultural Products” (2010) 5:6 Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice 441-459.
19. “Law and Policy on Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge and Development: Protecting Traditional Knowledge Based Agricultural Products through Geographical Indications” (2010) 11:1 The Estey Journal of International Law and Trade Policy 78-127.
20. “The Debate on Environmentally Motivated Unilateral Trade Measures in the World Trade Organization: The Way Forward” (2010) 9:3 Washington University Global Studies Law Review 427- 456.
21. “Building on the Canadian Approach to Resolve the Stalemate on the Trade and Environment Agenda in the World Trade Organization” (2009) 8:2 Journal of International Trade Law and Policy 159 – 180.
22. “The Application of Intellectual Property Rights to Biodiversity Resources: A Technique for the South Countries for Control over their Biodiversity Resources?” (2009) 17:1 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 150-165.
Technical Reports
Tesh Dagne and Chidi Oguamanam, “I.C.T.s in Agricultural Production and Potential Deployment in Operationalising Geographical Indications in Uganda” (2018). Ottawa Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2018-24
Degrees
JSD, Dalhousie University Schulich School of LawLL.M, University of Calgary Faculty of Law
LL.B, Addis Ababa University College of Law
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesResearch Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
The project expects to deliver results in two main domains: the national Geographical Indications (GIs) system – to introduce GI legislation and to strengthen the existing legal and institutional GI environment in Ethiopia, and the technical domain at a pilot product level, to transfer the required know-how for GI implementation at a GI product level.
In the legal domain, the project will result in a draft Proclamation and regulation and reinforce the capacities of the public and private actors to manage GI applications, i.e., evaluation, registration, control, and legal protection. It will thus create favorable conditions for stakeholders from various value chains to detect or select production of interest with potential for GI certification and to develop a marketing strategy for coffee types.
In the technical domain, the project will focus on the coffee production sector to showcase GI implementation at national and local levels. Activities will lead to the constitution of a GI collective management organization at a coffee production level in charge of the coffee terroir characterization and delimitation (including coffee quality mapping).
The project involves action research, legal and policy advocacy work, legal drafting, trainings, workshops, conferences, and stakeholder consultations.
Start Date:
- Month: May Year: 2023
End Date:
- Month: Apr Year: 2026
Collaborator: Dr. Fabrice Pinard
Collaborator Institution: The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development
Collaborator Role: Co-coordinate; Research
Funders:
French Development Agency
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2024 | GS/PPAL6200 3.0 | M | Research Methods and Information Systems | SEMR |
| Winter 2024 | GS/PPAL6200 3.0 | N | Research Methods and Information Systems | SEMR |
Dr. Teshager Dagne joins the School of Public Policy and Administration as an Ontario Research Chair in Governing Artificial Intelligence and associate professor, with tenure, in the Professorial stream. He has previously taught at Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law and the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, where he earned his Doctoral degree and was a Schulich Research Fellow.
He has extensively published in areas of knowledge governance in intellectual property law, emerging technologies regulation, and big data governance.
His research explores legal, ethical, and regulatory considerations in the challenges and opportunities that the deployment of Artificial Intelligence and related technologies bring in different spheres of activities.
Areas of thematic focus:
- Intersections between intellectual property law and innovation governance
- The relationship between privacy norms and intellectual property law about access and control of data
- Frameworks and models for allocating rights in data in AI pipeline
- Artificial Intelligence Applications in health, agriculture, and environmental resources
Graduate and Post-doc Supervision
Professor Dagne is currently looking for Grad and Post-doc students in relation to research programs funded by York University. He has research projects funded by Connected Minds. If your research relates to the following areas, broadly, please get in touch with him to discuss:
(1) Governance of AI-Assisted Health Devices and Digital Health Applications: Addressing Legal, Regulatory and Ethical Challenges and Opportunities. Under this stream, his research delves into the governance complexities surrounding AI-assisted health devices and digital health applications, exploring the shifting dynamics of medical and consumer health devices, and framing governance as a holistic societal framework. His research examines Data Governance and Governance of Innovation, probing diverse interests, equitable access to data, and the impact of AI on liability and innovation governance.
(2) Artificial Intelligence and Agriculture: Data Governance for Sustainability in Digital Agriculture: Under this strand, his research explores the potential of AI technologies in areas like smart irrigation, pest control, and disease detection for greener agriculture. He investigates the intricate interplay of stakeholders, ranging from farmers to agricultural technology providers, highlighting power dynamics and autonomy concerns arising from concentrated data ownership.
Books Authored
1. Gregory Hagen, Cameron Hutchison, Graham Reynolds, Teresa Scassa, Margaret Ann Wilkinson, Tesh W. Dagne, Canadian Intellectual Property Law: Cases and Materials, 3rd edition (2022) Emond Montgomery.
2. Tesh W. Dagne, Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge in the Global Economy: Translating Geographical Indications for Development (London: Routledge, 2014).
Book Chapters
1. “Subsistence of Copyright over CAD files in 3D Printing: The Canadian, the U.S. and European Outlook” in Enrico Bonadio & Nicola Lucchi, Non-Conventional Copyright (Cheltenham, Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2018).
2. Tesh Dagne and Chidi Oguamanam, “Geographical Indication (G.I.) Options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa” (with Dr. Chidi Oguamanam) in De Beer, J., Armstrong, C., Oguamanam, C. and Schonwetter, T. (Eds.) Innovation and Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa (Cape Town: U.C.T. Press, 2014)
Journal Articles
1. "How Artificial is Artificial Intelligence? Accounting for Data Workers in Collaborative Authorship of Data Work and AI Outputs" – in progress
2. “Vying for the New Harvest: A Data Governance Framework for Access to and Control over Agricultural Data” – in progress
3. “Where Copyright Meets Privacy in the Big Data Era: Access to and Control over User Data and the Role of Copyright” (2022) The Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law.
4. “Embracing the Data Revolution for Development: Rights-based Governance for Farm Data in the Context of African Indigenous Farmers” (2020) 5 The Journal of Law, Social Justice and Global Development 15-44.
5. “Governance of Health-related 3D Printing Applications in Canada and the United States: Between Regulated and Unregulated Innovation” (2020) 22 Columbia Science and Technology Law Review 281-328.
6. “Protection of Biodiversity and Associated Traditional Knowledge in Canada: Ensuring Community Control in Access and Benefit Sharing” (2017) 30:2 Journal of Environmental Law and Practice 97-122.
7. Tesh W. Dagne and Gosia Piasecka, “The Right to Repair Doctrine and the Use of 3D Printing Technology in Canadian Patent Law” (2016) 14:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Technology 263-287.
8. “Geographical Indications as Tools for Knowledge Governance in Select Eastern and Southern African Countries” (2016) 19 African Journal of Information & Communication 143-152.
9. “The Narrowing Transatlantic Divide: Geographical Indications in Canada’s Trade Agreements” (2016) 10 European Intellectual Property Review 598-609.
10. Tesh W. Dagne and Chelsea Dubeau, “3D Printing and the Law: Are CAD Files Copyright-protected?” (2015) 28:1 Intellectual Property Journal 101-135.
11. “Overview of Implications of 3D Printing upon Canadian Intellectual Property Law” (2015) 31 Canadian Intellectual Property Review 29-41.
12. “The Left Shark, Thrones, Sculptures and Unprintable Triangle: 3D Printing & Its Intersections with I.P.” (2015) 25:3 Albany Law Journal of Science & Technology 573-591.
13. “Beyond Economic Considerations: (Re) Conceptualizing Geographical Indications for Protecting Traditional Agricultural Products” (2015) 46:6 International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 682-706.
14. “Protecting Traditional Knowledge in International Intellectual Property: Imperatives for Protection and Choice of Modalities” (2014) 14:1 The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property 25-49.
15. “The Identity of Geographical Indications and their Relation to Traditional Knowledge in Intellectual Property Law” (2014) 54:2 IDEA: The Intellectual Property Law Review 255-284; The WIPO Journal (2015)
16. “Acting Locally to Participate Globally in A Rights-Based Approach to Development: Place-based Intellectual Property Strategies in Traditional and Local Agricultural Production” (2013) Drake Journal of Agricultural Law 565-595.
17. “The Search for Protection of Traditional Knowledge in the Knowledge Economy: Cross-Cutting Challenges in International Intellectual Property Law” (2012) 14:2 International Community Law Review 137-178.
18. “Harnessing the Development Potentials of Geographical Indications for Traditional Knowledge Based Agricultural Products” (2010) 5:6 Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice 441-459.
19. “Law and Policy on Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge and Development: Protecting Traditional Knowledge Based Agricultural Products through Geographical Indications” (2010) 11:1 The Estey Journal of International Law and Trade Policy 78-127.
20. “The Debate on Environmentally Motivated Unilateral Trade Measures in the World Trade Organization: The Way Forward” (2010) 9:3 Washington University Global Studies Law Review 427- 456.
21. “Building on the Canadian Approach to Resolve the Stalemate on the Trade and Environment Agenda in the World Trade Organization” (2009) 8:2 Journal of International Trade Law and Policy 159 – 180.
22. “The Application of Intellectual Property Rights to Biodiversity Resources: A Technique for the South Countries for Control over their Biodiversity Resources?” (2009) 17:1 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 150-165.
Technical Reports
Tesh Dagne and Chidi Oguamanam, “I.C.T.s in Agricultural Production and Potential Deployment in Operationalising Geographical Indications in Uganda” (2018). Ottawa Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2018-24
Degrees
JSD, Dalhousie University Schulich School of LawLL.M, University of Calgary Faculty of Law
LL.B, Addis Ababa University College of Law
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesResearch Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
The project expects to deliver results in two main domains: the national Geographical Indications (GIs) system – to introduce GI legislation and to strengthen the existing legal and institutional GI environment in Ethiopia, and the technical domain at a pilot product level, to transfer the required know-how for GI implementation at a GI product level.
In the legal domain, the project will result in a draft Proclamation and regulation and reinforce the capacities of the public and private actors to manage GI applications, i.e., evaluation, registration, control, and legal protection. It will thus create favorable conditions for stakeholders from various value chains to detect or select production of interest with potential for GI certification and to develop a marketing strategy for coffee types.
In the technical domain, the project will focus on the coffee production sector to showcase GI implementation at national and local levels. Activities will lead to the constitution of a GI collective management organization at a coffee production level in charge of the coffee terroir characterization and delimitation (including coffee quality mapping).
The project involves action research, legal and policy advocacy work, legal drafting, trainings, workshops, conferences, and stakeholder consultations.
Project Type: FundedRole: Co-coordinator; Research Operator
Start Date:
- Month: May Year: 2023
End Date:
- Month: Apr Year: 2026
Collaborator: Dr. Fabrice Pinard
Collaborator Institution: The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development
Collaborator Role: Co-coordinate; Research
Funders:
French Development Agency
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2024 | GS/PPAL6200 3.0 | M | Research Methods and Information Systems | SEMR |
| Winter 2024 | GS/PPAL6200 3.0 | N | Research Methods and Information Systems | SEMR |
